The psl romanian sniper rifle

Status
Not open for further replies.
1

15guns

Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2009
Messages
377
What's with the PSL rifle? I seen so many videos of them on youtube and all they do is jam.
 
These are just cheap replicas of the original Dragunov. They aren't made to the same mil spec standards, they use cheaper metals and take manufacturing shortcuts, etc.
 
These are just cheap replicas of the original Dragunov
Click to expand...

No, they're not. They're a long AK action. They kinda resemble the Drag, but beyond visual similarities at a glance and the chambering, they have nothing in common.

To the OP:

They're hit and miss. My first one was really nice, hand-picked out of a dozen when they first started coming in as full military PSL's. Then Century had their recall, and my replacement was an inaccurate and poorly finished excuse for a rifle. I kept it around to shoot up the couple thousand rounds of 7.62x54 I had, but then I got an SVT-40, so I traded off the PSL last fall. Don't miss it one bit.
 
Friend of mine has a good one (very accurate, commie milspec scope). It does, however, have feeding issues because of the box magazine/rimmed casing issue. Seems like plenty of performance for the money (his is Romanian).
 
Mine use to jam also with Polish ammo. I switched to Czech ammo and now it never jams.
 
I love my PSL, fun rifle, accurate enough for its design. Cant say much about the century ones though... but century's been hit or miss in the past.
 
Yeah I thought it might have to do with using cheap ammo. Or it could of been poor maching or parts from the factory. It's good up to 1300 yards and costs less than 700 bucks. You can't go wrong with it for the price. Of course if I bought one I would have to get a nice bipod on it and get a way higher power scope. The factory one is only 4x24 power. I actually like that rifle the most out of all rifles as far as accuracy for the low price. Just wasn't sure abut that feeding problem.
 
"Cheap ammo..." !! You mean like the .10 cents per round surplus ammo?

Nah, it's a great rifle. Well made for $500. Just a large AK47 really.
 
Well I don't know what brand ammo they were using on those videos online. I hope it's not the kind I bought for my mosin for 4.99 a bag of 20 before taxes.
 
I fixed the jamming problem on mine. The jamming problem is actually related to the magazines. Some of the magazines have weld pits just under the feed lips that can snag the rims of the 7.62x54R cartridges, resulting in the nose of the round turning down and slamming into the front of the mag. A bit of work with a file and the problem goes away.

I like mine. Nice rifle. Was well-finished and well-built. I can't tell you how accurate it is, though, because I had issues sighting in with the factory scope (I lack a good benchrest to really make it possible, and I'm left-handed) and am in the process of rescoping it. The current PSL's coming in are very nice rifles, and are effectively mil-spec. The only thing different from the military model is the trigger group (factory-installed) and the ground-down bayonet lug.

Bottom line: Century just imports them now, and doesn't monkey them up. Some of the earlier PSL's required modification, but now they're made to importable specs by the original factory. The new ones coming in are much more accurate, and very nice guns. The people who had bad results with earlier PSL's likely wouldn't see the same if they purchased one now.
 
I'd like to add, I know someone who was getting half-inch groups at 100 yards with his PSL. The only BAD PSL's are the ones that Century monkeyed up or that were built from kits. All the new ones coming in now are factory new and unmodified. Most will shoot around 1 MOA from everything I've read. One thing to note: they only will take light-ball ammo (147-155 grains). Most commercial ammo is 180-grain, although you're increasingly seeing 150-grain ammo available from companies like Wolf and PRVI Partizan
 
Mine does 2 MOA with russian surplus lightball. It does around 1.5 MOA with bulgarian heavy ball (not supposed to but a few rounds couldn't hurt). With Wolf bi metal rounds 149 grain it gets just over 1 MOA. Mine does not like russian surplus, the rounds make it about half way into the chamber then stop every 3rd round or so but is dead reliable with everything else.

I have no regrets getting mine.
 
The PSLs that were made from kits with US recievers seem to be less reliabile than the actual Romanian made ones.

Also, the Romanian's do not use the PSL as a sniper rifle, it's used as a designated rifleman's rifle.
It's so a squad will have the capability to engage targets out of the range of the AKs.
 
It's a long barreled AK that fires a larger caliber bullet. That's it. It's not a "Dragunov". The entire design of the rifle is "Kalishnikov"-based, hence interchangeable parts. People who sell this as a "Dragunov" are lying to you. That's a totally different gun.

I have a PSL. I put an 8x POSP scope on it. It shoots better than a regular AK. Recoil isn't bad. For $600 you basically get an AK on steroids. It's a sniper rifle in the sense that it will kill a man at 300 meters quite easily.

It also looks damn cool.
 
powerline said:
Why is it that you're only supposed to shoot light ammo?
What happens if you use the heavy stuff?
Click to expand...
It beats up the bolt heavily, it beats up the receiver, and a steady diet will ruin the rifle's accuracy in short order. The main thing I've heard is that it's bad for the bolt and damages the bolt lugs over time. Fortunately, commercial 148 and 150 grain ammo is increasingly more common from Wolf and PRVI Partizan. If only we could get Bear to start offering it, we'd be golden.
 
The Romanians don't use them as sniper rifles? Then what do they use as their sniper rifles (really, not being sarcastic)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sniper_rifles
Click to expand...
Quite a few of the guns on that list are not actually Sniper Rifles, but Designated Marksman Rifles. A lot of folks lump them together, however they have different roles. DMs are embedded with a squad to provide long range support fire as they attack or maneuver. Snipers are more autonomous, operate in pairs with an observer and generally serve more covertly in a scout role, or infiltration to take out high value targets or used to provide cover for high value assets. Snipers can be used as DMs in some cases, but DMs are not trained for the field craft and extreme long range skills of a true sniper.

There is overlap as far as weapons used, but for a DM rifle a higher rate of fire is desirable, where sniper rifles are designed for better one shot accuracy and use at longer range. Even today, snipers often use bolt action rifles.

I have no idea what the Romanians use as a sniper rifle. They may not even have snipers. Not all countries have sniper units.
 
Last edited:
The Romanians don't use them as sniper rifles? Then what do they use as their sniper rifles (really, not being sarcastic)?
Click to expand...

See what DMK wrote:

There is overlap as far as weapons used, but for a DM rifle a higher rate of fire is desirable, where sniper rifles are designed for better one shot accuracy and use at longer range. Even today, snipers often use bolt action rifles.
Click to expand...

And I'll add that the Role the PSL fills is the same as what we use our M25 (DMR version of M14) for. Our snipers use the M24/M40, which are custom Rem. 700's. The M25, like the PSL, is not designed, intended or cosistently capable of scoring deadly hits at 1,000, 1,500 or more meters. It is designed to reach out further then the M16/M4 that the other soldiers in the squad have.

As far as the PSL in a sniper role, yes, it is employed that way. There is no definitive distance at which a shot must be taken to be considered sniping. It is the action. The PSL's limitations, however, dictate that the sniper be closer to his target than what our snipers often are. From what I've read, it is being used on both sides of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has certainly been effective. Of course, when used on our guys, the PSL shooter is within M25 range if he is scoring hits. Sniping at a US squad with a PSL is suicidal, especially if our guys have an M107 to return fire with.
 
A good movie rep of a dragonov sniper against a sniper with a m107 is the hurt locker.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top